Oddball Films presents Trance Cinema Live - An Evening of Ritual and
Ecstatic States with live electronic accompaniment by Jakarta musician Iman Fattah. Oddball Films
continues its series of ecstatic states and global rituals with a live cinesound
presentation. Sherpa High Country (1977) documents the ecstatic three days of
ritual in Nepal during the Mani Rimdu ceremonies celebrated each year by Buddhist
Sherpas. In Ma’Bugi: Trance of the Toraja
(1970s), women dance ecstatically and men climb a ladder of knives in a trance
ritual that functions to restore the balance of well-being to an afflicted
village community. Walbiri Fire Ceremony
(1977) showcases a spectacular three-day Australian Aboriginal communal ritual
of penance. In A
Balinese Gong Orchestra (1971), musicians showcase their mesmerizing rhythms.
In Trance and Ritual in Bali (1972), trance
dances and ecstatic spirit possession are mixed with electronics by Iman Fattah
and Tanka
(1976) a fierce animated vision of ancient gods and demons in the Tibetan Book of the Dead pulsates and
projects from still Tanka images.
Come early for a double screen, overlapping projection of the exotic curios Belles
of the South Seas and Belles of Bali (1930s).

Sherpa High Country (Color, 1977)is a beautifully photographed
look into the life of Nepalese Sherpas from the Solu Khumbu highlands near Mt.
Everest, over 4,000 ft in the sky. Sherpa life is shown in detail and features
stunning cinematography of the great annual three-day Mani Rimdu ceremonies
held at the Tangboche monastery. During the Mani Rimdu a unique orchestra of
horns, drums, conch shells and cymbals accompany ritualistic dances in which
monks in vibrant robes and bizarre glowering masks act out the roles of
deities. These historico-mythical ceremonies replay the vanquishing of demons
and the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet. This film is a document of a
celebration that now draws thousands of visitors from around the world.

Walbiri Fire Ceremony (1977),From the other side of the
planet documents a spectacular three-day Australian Aboriginal communal ritual
of penance. The ceremony culminates in a nighttime ordeal in which the owners
are humiliated, engage in self-flagellation with burning bundles of twigs and
are showered with sparks from burning branches. This is a powerful, engaging
and fascinating film.

Ma’Bugi: Trance of the Toraja, (Color, 1970s) depicts an unusual trance ritual that
functions to restore the balance of well-being to an afflicted village
community. This film clearly portrays the song, dance and pulsating tension
that precede dramatic instances of spirit possession in the Toraja highlands of
Sulawesi (Celebes) Island, Indonesia. Ma’Bugi:
Trance of the Toraja, augments the growing body of documentation of
ritually sanctioned altered states of consciousness. This remarkable film
communicates both the psychological abandon of the trance state and the often
neglected motivation underlying such activities as the supernaturally curing of
the chronically ill and the ascent of a ladder of knives.The ceremony is narrated by the Tominaa,
priest of the ancestral Toraja religion.

A Balinese Gong Orchestra (Color, 1971)

A film explaining the famous
"Gamelan Gong" that includes the orchestra Tunjuk. Each instrument is
described and explained, then the orchestra performs a piece taken from the
Ramayana ballet suite (written in the 1950s and based on traditional themes). Segments
of this film will be double screen projected.

Trance and Ritual In
Bali (Color, 1972)

Rare footage of cremation ceremonies, trance dances
and ecstatic spirit possession in Bali. With live music composed and performed
Jakarta musician by Iman Fattah.

Tanka (Color, 1976)

"An
extraordinary film."-Melinda Wortz, Art News

Tanka means, literally, a thing rolled
up. David Lebrun’s Tanka is brilliantly powered by the insight that Tibetan
religious paintings are intended to be perceived not in repose, but in constant
movement. The film, photographed from Tibetan scroll paintings of the sixteenth
to nineteenth centuries, is a cyclical vision of ancient gods and demons, an
animated journey through the image world of the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

Belles of Bali/Belles of the South Seas (B+W, 1930s)

Come early to see these unusual curios
examining the female culture and day-to-day activities of “exotified” Balinese
women as well as the “strange and savage” cultures of the South Seas.Both films will be projected and overlapped simultaneously

About Jakarta Musician
Iman Fattah

Iman Fattah is a musician, sound designer and producer from Jakarta, Indonesia. His father is a legendary Indonesian musician Donny Fattah. Fattah has been active in Indonesian rock and experimental music scene for the past 15 years, playing guitar in his own band called Zeke and the Popo and RAKSASA. Additionally he produces music for films, theater and commercials. In 2010 Iman collaborated with cutting edge film director Joko Anwar Indonesian as sound designer in the award winning theatrical performance Onrop.